1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of business practice and management for a vehicle renting company. More particularly, the invention is about better utilization of high-price and high-demand vehicles owned by the vehicle renting company.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle rental company rents vehicles for short periods ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. It owns vehicle rental shops located near airports or busy city areas. The vehicle rental company primarily serves people who have a vehicle that is temporarily out of reach or out of service, for example, travelers who are out of town or owners of damaged or destroyed vehicle who are awaiting repair or insurance compensation.
The vehicle renting industry has grown rapidly in recent times. A recent survey conducted among the major players of this industry showed that in a year the reservation center of a typical vehicle rental company handles approximately 40 million requests and delivers approximately 30 million reservations. The rental companies own a large number and variety of vehicles.
One of the problems faced by the vehicle rental companies is that returning vehicles have to be taken to a servicing bay where the vehicles are cleaned, serviced, and repaired, if necessary. The process of cleaning, servicing, and repairing the vehicles can take a lot of time ranging from a few hours to a couple of days. None of the prior art disclosed herein teaches a method to conveniently and automatically distinguish between the high-priced, premium returning vehicles and the other returning vehicles. Similarly, none of the prior art disclosed herein teaches a method to conveniently and automatically distinguish between a premium customer and a normal customer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,148 discloses an automated vehicle return system wherein status information of a rented vehicle is automatically tracked during the rental period and is transmitted to a selected destination computer upon driving the vehicle into a return area. Electronic vehicle monitoring circuitry is tied to existing components within the vehicle to keep track of the status of the vehicle during the rental period. The status information includes, miles driven, fuel level, pick up time, drop off time, wear and tear on the vehicle, etc. The status information is used by the destination computer to determine a bill for the rented vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,397 discloses an automatic automobile rental system having a plurality of remote rental stations and a central data processing station for system control and customer billing. A system user employs a credit card that is automatically read at a rental station to identify the user, and this information is checked at the central station to verify that the card holder is entitled to receive an automobile. The same card identifies the holder when the automobile is returned to the same or a different rental station. An ignition key and machine-readable car identification and mileage module are interconnected for reading and dispensing at a rental station and for use in operating an automobile. Mileage or other measure of usage of the rented automobile is recorded in an electrolytic cell as a state of charge proportional to mileage. The cell is transferred to the automobile for mileage recording and to the rental station for discharge and mileage reading. Standard pulses of charge in a number proportional to mileage are used to charge the electrolytic cell. Data read from the electrolytic cell, from the user card, and from the automobile identification are transmitted to the central data processing unit over conventional telephone lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,948 discloses a communication system having a communication channel for transmitting data between a base station and a plurality of mobile radio units, wherein each radio unit has a unique identification (ID) code and wherein transmissions from each radio unit to the base station include the unit's ID code, a method is described for identifying which units are within RF communication proximity of the base station. The method includes: transmitting a range message, including a low ID code parameter and a high ID code parameter, from the base station over the channel to elicit a response from at least one of the mobile radio units having an ID code between the low and high parameters; determining whether radio units transmitted a message in response to the range message; and storing, responsive to transmission by the units, in an ID list a signal representative of the respective ID code assigned to such transmitting units. These steps are repeated with different transmitted range messages until each of the radio units within RF proximity of the base station is appended to the ID list.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,693 discloses a radio frequency (RF) tagging system to monitor vehicles passing through an area access to one or more vehicle storage area(s). One or more of the vehicles stored in the storage area is equipped with a RF tag, which has vehicle ID information about the vehicle stored in a tag memory contained on the tag. The tag communicates with a base station when passing through the area accesses, (entering or leaving). A central and preferably one or more remote computers accesses status information that might include vehicle identification, customer, lot identification, time of day, and vehicle and lot status. The information is used in security or marketing functions. The security function can include a paging system for sending alarms and/or messages to a manager or security personnel. The marketing function can include determining how long or how many times different makes an model of vehicle are chosen by customers for test drives. Additionally, the marketing function will identify past vehicles that were sold at the dealership as an indication of a potential interested buyer.
US Patent Publication No. 2002/0184062 discloses a vehicle management method and system to monitor and manage a fleet of vehicles with high efficiency and low cost. The management method includes the steps of providing a radio transmitter connected to a vehicle navigation system in each vehicle, providing a radio transmitter connected to a facility computer in a vehicle management facility, receiving information regarding use of a vehicle by the vehicle navigation system from the facility computer which is transmitted through the radio transmitters, monitoring usage of the vehicle and storing data thereof in a memory, and sending the stored data to the facility computer through the radio transmitters.